23 July 2018
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Overnight drop-in centre
Inquiry
The RDRR have claimed in a press release this morning the Eruera St building exceeds the government's minimum earthquake standard of 34 per cent, please see attachment.
- Is it correct an earthquake engineer has reported two measures of 38 and 40 per cent?
- It claims the council has the discretion to provide emergency consent for the shelter to open for overnight sleeping?
- What grounds has the council used to deny consent?
- What is the council's preferred earthquake rating for change of use?
We have also spoken to MBIE, about the requirements for change of use, which are: means of escape from fire; protection of other property; sanitary facilities; structural performance; fire-rating performance.
- On which of these does the building not meet the requirements for consent?
Subsequent message from reporter:
'Emergency consent' is the terminology the RDRR have used, we assume this would mean the consent being granted quickly and with priority. But we can't confirm what they meant by this.
Having spoken with the building owner they say they were under the impression from the council staff they were working through the consent process with them and were at no point told they were ready to fill out the official paper work.
Can I instead ask,
- What is holding up a consent on the building?
Third message from reporter with further questions:
Following my meeting with Tiny Deane, these are my additional questions.
We understand the council has advised the Ministry of Social development Rotorua does not want/need a night shelter and want to confirm the relationship council has had with MSD on this issue.
- In a conversation with the Ministry of Social Development did Rotorua Lakes Council say this city did not need a night shelter?
- Have the council been working with MSD towards housing homeless people in motels?
- In the eyes of the council is a temporary night shelter or motel accommodation more appropriate for the situation we are seeing in Rotorua?
In relation to complaints made by Tiny Deane we would like you to have right of response.
- He describes the council as "pretty poor", "quite snobbish", "heartless" and "inhumane".
- He says the council has been "inconsistent" saying it was helping while not actually progressing the consent.
- He said he would love to know why the council haven't granted consent.
Response
Please attribute to a Council spokesman:
No consent application has been received for the Eruera Street building. Nevertheless it was not required to close and could continue to be operated as a drop-in centre - day or night. However, it needs to meet Building Code safety requirements before it can be set up and used for overnight sleeping, as was agreed before the centre opened.
Council has been covering some of Mr Deane's costs and paying for security.
A night time centre was established as a temporary solution to get people through the winter nights and the council continues to fully support that kaupapa - as it always has.
MSD, as the lead agency dealing with homelessness and emergency and social housing, has committed to doing what it takes to find appropriate solutions for the homeless. One longer term MSD solution coming to Rotorua is the Housing First programme. In the meantime, MSD has told Council, there is no need for people to be sleeping rough because there are options available. Staff from MSD have been working in the day-time drop-in centre to offer support to individuals.
Council supports the principles of Housing First which sees solutions tailored to meet the unique circumstances of those who are homeless.
Additional info
Change of use
When the use of a building is changed the Building Act requires an assessment of the performance of the building be undertaken to determine if upgrades are needed.
While obviously 100% seismic rating would be the ideal, that is not practical for all buildings and a level of 66% is widely accepted as meeting this test.
Earthquake ratings are not the only consideration for change of use. Some building uses require a higher standard of fire safety and accessibility requirements and may including fire alarm systems and escape routes and plans.
The process
- Building owner or operator notifies council they want to change use.
- Owner or operator employs experts to undertake reports (eg structural and fire safety) to determine what, if any, upgrades are needed.
- Council assesses the report/s and determines if building consent is needed.
- If not, the owner/operator can go ahead with any work required, as per their reports.
- If they need consent, they then lodge a consent application.
- Consent application is processed.
- Once consent is approved they then complete the work that needs to be done.
- When the work is completed they get sign-off and a 'code of compliance certificate' from Council prior to change of use.
The Building Act
The Act exists to protect people and other property. See below excerpt from the Building Act re purposes:
Purposes
This Act has the following purposes:
(a) to provide for the regulation of building work, the establishment of a licensing regime for building practitioners, and the setting of performance standards for buildings to ensure that
(i) people who use buildings can do so safely and without endangering their health; and
(ii) buildings have attributes that contribute appropriately to the health, physical independence, and well-being of the people who use them; and
(iii) people who use a building can escape from the building if it is on fire; and
(iv) buildings are designed, constructed, and able to be used in ways that promote sustainable development:
(b) to promote the accountability of owners, designers, builders, and building consent authorities who have responsibilities for ensuring that building work complies with the building code.
Section 115 of the Building Act relates to requirements around change of use of a building.
In the case of a change of use, if the Building Code requirements for the new use are more onerous than the previous, a building consent is almost always required, to undertake the necessary upgrades.
See fact sheet re Change of Use HERE
If you look through this fact sheet where it goes into categories, in the case of, for example, the Eruera St building the current use category is WL and using it for a shelter with overnight sleeping would change the category to SA, which has more onerous requirements in terms of fire and structural safety.